NEWBURYPORT — Like a long-awaited Christmas present, volunteers and staff at the Custom House Maritime Museum spent some of Thursday morning carefully unwrapping a $400,000 Fresnel lens once used to light up the Coney Island Lighthouse.
“This is a great day for the museum and for Newburyport,” Custom House Executive Director James Russell said. “I know that our membership is very excited for this lens to come home because in many ways, that’s exactly what’s happening here.”
A Fresnel lens, according to Russell, focuses scattered rays of light into a single, intense beam, drastically improving lighthouse illumination.
The roughly 2-foot-tall lens, according to retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Dan May, was made in Paris in the late 1800s. It was in service on Coney Island from 1888 to 1986.
The shaped glass takes the place of a similar Fresnel lens, which had been displayed at the Custom House for 43 years before it was returned to Rhode Island’s Pomham Rocks Lighthouse in 2021.
“They had renovated the lighthouse down there and asked if we would mind giving back the lens,” Russell said. “Of course, that was the right thing to do.”
In need of a new lens, Russell reached out to May, who knew about the former Coney Island Lighthouse meniscus that had been sitting in federal storage.
“It had bounced around after 1986 for awhile and ended up at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington,” May said. “Then it went into storage around 2012.”
Working with the Coast Guard, as well as U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, and state Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, May got the green light to loan the lens to the Custom House.
“So many people had such fond memories of our lens for so, so many years,” Russell said. “To have something like that come back into this historic building is something to be celebrated.”
May made the trip down to Washington, D.C., to pick up the Coney Island lens at a federal warehouse. He jokingly said the place was so big, it reminded him of where the Ark of the Covenant was stashed at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Coast Guard lampist Tommy Cumella joined May on the trip. The pair drove the lens to Massachusetts in Cumella’s truck.
Cumella is one of few certified Coast Guard lampists in the nation.
“I was along for ballast and to assist,” May laughed.
With Coast Guard Station Merrimack River Master Chief Carlos Hessler providing manpower and assistance, Cumella said Thursday’s installation went as smooth as it could.
“It was a slick operation,” he said.
Cumella, who grew up in Brooklyn, said he remembers looking out at the Coney Island Lighthouse and its lens as a kid.
“This is kind of special for me,” he said.
The lens is now located in the north end of the museum’s main hallway. It’s expected to greet visitors with a splash of maritime ingenuity.
Over the next two to three months, a more permanent stand will be made for the item, according to Russell.
Custom House board President Bob Cronin said Merri-Mar Yacht Basin is crafting a protective, curved decorative railing to safeguard the lens.
“This has been a true community effort,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier about it.”
Russell said the railing will be donated to the museum, which will also have to figure out how to illuminate the lens.
“I was hoping to have a ribbon-cutting ceremony in late February, early March,” he said. “But all this is pushing that off into possibly April or a little longer.”
Russell thanked May, the Coast Guard, Moulton and Tarr for their assistance. He said the new lens could stay on loan to the museum for another 40 or so years.
“Well, the last one was here for 43 years, so this isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “Investing in making this all right is a sound investment.”